Lee Dixon: Capello still quiet on team

Opinion

I can't remember going into a World Cup with England so unsure about the identity of the team. How many times have we not even known who the goalkeeper is?

Everybody is now waiting for Fabio Capello to name his side. There are doubts over the keeper, the centre of the defence, the midfield and who will play up front. That's too many questions.

You hear from within the camp that Capello is very tight-lipped about everything. There is nothing necessarily wrong with that, of course, and it will keep players on their toes. But as a player I always wanted to know as early as possible if I was going to start.

Then I could play the game in my head, sort out my needs as an individual - who I was to pick up, how I was to play, almost head and kick every ball and then look to my unit, the defence, and then the team as a whole.

Sometimes when you don't know who is playing it can create a nervousness across the squad. It may not bother some players, but I've not met many of them.

Capello's biggest influence on the team, in fact the whole England set-up, is in creating an environment that what he says goes. He has installed discipline, a teacher/pupil relationship that is important for this group of players. That had been lost under the two previous regimes and it cost England.

What of the team? There is one crucial point here: the formation has to get the most out of the key personnel, and for that reason I would play a five-man midfield - it makes best use of the resources that England have. Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard cannot play together, but they remain key individuals.

The answer is to push Gerrard forward, free him up. Look at the way he has played for Liverpool this season, England have to get the ball to him high up the pitch.

For Liverpool he plays off Fernando Torres, makes breaks off him and gets into the box where he can cause most damage. Gerrard likes playing that way, too.

It would mean fielding Wayne Rooney up front on his own, and he has no problems taking that role. We know that from what he did for Manchester United this season when he proved a lot of us wrong. He told Alan Shearer that he actually enjoys playing as a lone striker.

Naturally you would play Gareth Barry in the holding role of a midfield five, so if he is not fit Michael Carrick should fill in against the United States. He can let Lampard get forward to provide another goal threat. England sometimes get overrun in midfield so it is important to have bodies there.

The US are not flair-orientated, they will be very well organised and look to Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan to hurt England down the wings. That is where James Milner and Aaron Lennon come in from a defensive point of view.

As an ex-footballer, Milner is the sort of player you look and think straight away: yes, he's got it. He produces no matter what; he has good feet, dribbles well, can cross and tackle, and then there is his versatility.

England's wide men can cause plenty of trouble going forward as I don't fancy the American full-backs, Bocanegra and Cherundolo. They need to get wide and deliver balls into the box for Rooney and Gerrard, and Lampard making those late runs. Behind that Carrick provides a safety valve.

That is what I would do, but I don't think Capello will, certainly not at this stage of the tournament. He seems certain to play Emile Heskey in a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1, although he may well change the formation as the tournament progresses.

Why does Capello place such faith in Heskey? When you play a big centre forward it can help push the opposition's defence back and keep them down the pitch, creating space for the midfield.

Apart from Lennon, England do not have blistering pace in midfield so if Rooney is coming short, the team may be pushed back without someone like Heskey to hold the frontline.

But the basic fact remains that Heskey's scoring record is not good and if Rooney is not scoring this is not a team that looks full of goals.

Peter Crouch's goalscoring record for England is excellent - perhaps he has not done it against top teams, but then in the group stages England are not playing top teams. England's forward options are a concern.

I don't understand why Capello has not taken five strikers. With the goals Darren Bent scored in the Premier League, he should be here. One injury and England are in trouble as there is no cover.

- INDEPENDENT

* Lee Dixon is a former England fullback